Go to the poorest areas of the nation where people are having kids at the youngest ages. Do the math. Offer a completely scholarship to a state college, maybe one year worth, to any 12 year old willing to get a 10-year birth control device. It wouldn't cost much... put the $ in a full 6 years before they need it. Don't pay for all 4 years, but hey, what's 24 credit hours cost?

Take the shot and you cannot get preggos at age 13. Maybe you don't choose to go to school. Maybe you ignore parents and whore about. But you don't get pregnant. And watch how many kids grow up by age 22 and decide a baby in their teens is a bad idea. look at the MATH of paying welfare for 3 kids for 18 years. Then look at the price of 8 college classes. Well worth it.

I bet in a one generation of this VOLUNTARY program, the number of babies on welfare would PLUMMET while education levels skyrocket. Like or dislike?

Dude, in California a school nurse can't give a 15 year old am asprin without a parents permission.

i taught middle school in a VERY poor school for 2 years. I know about the beaucratic BS, I know some kids are sweethearts and some are murderous whores. I think this age - middle school - is when criminals become criminals and doctors become doctors. This is when you save them or lose them, and looking at the current state of things, well, I am not optimistic.

I'm under the belief that nothing will improve by trying to fix teachers or teach morality, given the state of things. I grew up in Catholic school and I looked at the cross on the wall when I thought about doing something bad. Today's kids look for a security camera. Huge difference. Self-regulation is GONE these days.

That being said, a ten-year birth control device would solve most tennage pregnancy. And that would lead to MANY of these problems just going away. It's the only way to stop this cycle that I can see. We can hope for lofty "bring back religion to schools" but realistically, that will never happen. So all I look at it realistic solutions that people would like - and free college (or just $1000 at age 12 to take that 10 year shot) would probably work great. People love money.

Great, another baby killer on here. How about adoption? There are a lot of couples who want kids but can't.

I was adopted, I still support abortion of those on welfare. Why don't you adopt any kids? There are plenty in foster care and in the system.. if you are so passionate about this, go adopt an 8 yr old african american boy who is looking to be adopted. You never will. There are way more kids in the system, looking to be adopted compared to adoptive parents.

Luckily for me I was a genetically elite child, with blonde hair blue eyes and intelligent parents who just happened to get pregnant young. I was adopted at about a month old.

I use to be heavily against abortion, since well.. I could have been aborted, but I am sick of supporting people on welfare.

And do these same pro-lifers support multiple wars overseas brought forth under questionable circumstances? Thump that Bible all you want, but in reality, very few self-proclaimed Christians act as true Christians.......I'd safely say they are not found on this forum.

And do these same pro-lifers support multiple wars overseas brought forth under questionable circumstances? Thump that Bible all you want, but in reality, very few self-proclaimed Christians act as true Christians.......I'd safely say they are not found on this forum.

This thread headed into the direction predicted. TA with some good insights.

If you are a shitty parent your 15 year old daughter is going to have sex, might as well prevent a pregnancy. If you are a good parent your child will probably be fine. Access to birth control isn't going to make her want to have sex,shitty parenting is.

Seriously do conservatives not understand the concept of harm reduction?

This thread headed into the direction predicted. TA with some good insights.

If you are a shitty parent your 15 year old daughter is going to have sex, might as well prevent a pregnancy. If you are a good parent your child will probably be fine. Access to birth control isn't going to make her want to have sex,shitty parenting is.

Seriously do conservatives not understand the concept of harm reduction?

I think 15 year olds will have sex even with the best parents you can ask for. I don`t agree that just because a 15 year old is having sex, that somehow means there is bad parenting involved. It is perfectly normal for 15 year olds to have and to want sex, nothing to do with parenting.

A good parent would educate them on safe sex and how horrible it would be to have a child at a young age. Also, a good parent would talk about abortion and tell them, if they ever needed one, they would support them fully.

All walks of life get abortions, from the very wealthy to the very poor and everyone in between. My friends used to come to my mother at times, asking her to help pay for abortions because they were too scared to tell their parents or their parents were religious nutcases or they just didn`t feel comfortable talking to their parents about it. My mother always helped them out, gave them the money and that was that. One of the people who came to my mom later worked in DC doing legal work for a Republican Congressman and is a practicing lawyer.

We can hope for lofty "bring back religion to schools" but realistically, that will never happen.

A religious approach would likely emphasize abstinence only sex education, a failed policy. So it seems it wouldn't help the situation overmuch, putting aside the fact that it will never happen anyway.

Most Americans are still horrified of killing human embryos at a phase when they are a pathetically small collection of cells with zero neural activity -- preferring to treat them as if they are like you and me -- yet you think it's realistic to start locking children into binding agreements that require the government to surgically install devices into their genitalia in order to control their reproductive habits? OK.

So why not just give them money, then? Most of the kids won't end up in college anyway ('most' in the logical sense of 50+1% or more).

Several countries have 'conditional cash transfer' (CCT) programs which initiate cash deposits to poor persons based on their behavior. I don't know much about them, but I read good things about their efficacy. Rather than usher in some dystopian future of forced surgical procedures, a CCT program is a non-invasive solution that would incentivize behaviors that tend to minimize teenage pregnancy (continued educational attainment, attending a sex ed class, etc.) with cash to the mother's account(s). If you link such a program with welfare benefits more generally, there'd be even more incentive for even more people to act in a way conducive to solving the problem.